Pa Environment Digest July 29, 2013

7/27/2019 Pa Environment Digest July 29, 2013

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PA Environment DigestAn Update On Environmental Issues In PAEdited By: David E. Hess, Crisci Associates

Winner 2009 PAEE Business Partner Of The Year Award

Harrisburg, Pa July 29, 2013

Advisory Board Says DEP Chapter 78 Drilling Rule Changes Not Ready For Public Review

On July 18 the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board wrote to the Department of Environmental

Protection recommending DEP not publish the proposed Chapter 78 Marcellus Shale regulation

changes requiredby Act 13 for public comment because they are not fully developed.

DEP said the regulation changes will be going to the Environmental Quality Board on August 20for its approval as proposed rulemaking for public review.

The letter said the proposed rule is not ready for publication for five reasons--

-- It does not meet the requirements ofExecutive Order 1996-1 or the Departments Policy for

Development, Approval and Distribution of Regulations because the agency did not review the

regulations to determine if the cost of the regulation outweigh the benefits, if non-regulatory alternatives

were explored and preferred over regulation, if the regulations address a compelling public interest

and definable public health, safety or environmental risks, and if the regulation will hamper

Pennsylvanias ability to compete effectively with other states.

-- Significant portions of the rule were removed from discussion at TABs April 2013 meeting because

they require further development in technical workgroups, a process that has just begun. The subjectsremoved include: public resource protection, pre-hydraulic fracturing assessment (orphaned and

abandoned wells), waste management at well sites and water supply restoration standards.

-- Certain provisions of the proposed rule exceed statutory authority, including provisions related to

public resources, site restoration, pipelines and horizontal direction drilling and tanks and containers.

-- The Department has not critically analyzed or accommodated the anticipated impacts of the

proposed rule on small businesses, which is required by the Regulatory Review Act and the Act 76 of

2012.

-- The rule fails to proposed criteria, which the Environmental Quality Board is specifically directed to

do by Act 13, for the Department to use to impose permit conditions to mitigate probably harmful

impacts to public resources while ensuring optimal development of oil and gas resources and respectingthe property rights of oil and gas owners.

To allow for full and robust public comment period, all of these concerns should be addressed

before the proposed rule is published for comment.

(The) Environmental Quality Board should remand the proposed rule to the Department and

delay publishing any rule until the regulatory package is more fully developed and suitable for public

comment.

Indeed, the rules failure to propose any criteria with respect to public resource permit
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conditions renders the package incomplete and requires its return to the Department.

The members of the Advisory Board signing the letter included: Gary Slagel (CONSOL

Energy) Robert Watson, PhD (Penn State University) Samuel Fragale (Chief Oil & Gas) Burt Waite

(Moody & Associates) and Arthur Yingling (Ark Resources, Inc.).

A copy of the letteris available online.

DCNR Meets With Stakeholders On Potential Loyalsock State Forest Drilling

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources staff met Wednesday with representatives of

several statewide organizations at their request to discuss DCNRs role in protecting the natural and

recreational resources in the Loyalsock State Forest, Lycoming County, where it does not own the

subsurface rights.

A Commonwealth Court decision created a unique and complex mix of ownership and rights to

a 25,000-acre area within the state forest known as the Clarence Moore lands. Energy companies

holding the subsurface rights have requested access to extract natural gas.

Legal analysis indicates that on approximately 7,000 of the 25,000 acres, DCNR cannotprohibit surface access. On 18,000 acres, DCNR can strongly influence, but not prohibit, subsurface

owners from accessing the rights under their ownership from the surface.

While we did share this information at the public meeting held earlier this year, we were clear in

meeting with stakeholders today that DCNR does not have complete control of surface rights

throughout the 25,000 acres, DCNR Acting Secretary Ellen Ferretti said. However, we do believe

we can strongly influence and ensure responsible access to minimize impacts to the natural and

recreational features on these lands.

With that goal in mind, DCNR anticipates meeting with Anadarko and Southwestern Energy

Company. Each organization owns 50 percent of the subsurface rights. Anadarko already had

approached DCNR about accessing those rights on the entire 25,000 acres but no conversations hadoccurred for almost a year.

DCNRs priorities in protecting the natural resources and recreational opportunities on the

Clarence Moore lands include:

-- Minimizing surface disturbance to the greatest extent possible

-- Limiting impacts on trail users on the 27-mile Old Loggers Path trail that circles the lands or relocate

trail if necessary

-- Reducing fragmentation from pipelines, right-of-ways and roads

-- Avoiding or minimizing activity in wetland areas and important habitat for threatened or endangered

species

-- Avoiding or minimizing development in the headwaters of the Rock Run waterway and

-- Mitigating noise impacts from compressor stations.

Our main interest is protecting this resource. That is our mission. Its our job to balance the

protection of habitat and recreational resources such as the Old Loggers Path with the various uses of

the state forest, including gas extraction, Ferretti said.

Any development by the subsurface owners would also be subject to the required

environmental reviews and permitting process with the Department of Environmental Protection.

We have received a large volume of correspondence, phone calls, inquiries from the public and
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcnr.state.pa.us%2Fcs%2Fgroups%2Fpublic%2Fdocuments%2Fdocument%2Fdcnr_20026829.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGQv4RUocENsf0_XNh6blCPkzOjEAhttp://goo.gl/umS99


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legislators, and read media accounts, all of which have given us a good representation of the concerns

and questions from the public, Ferretti said. We share these concerns and will be incorporating that

information into our negotiations with the subsurface owners.

The meeting was organized by Curt Ashenfelter of the Keystone Trails Association and

attended by representatives from Audubon Pennsylvania Citizens for Pennsylvanias Future Sierra

Club Forest Coalition and the Responsible Drilling Alliance.I want to thank the organizations that met with DCNR today for their interest, Ferretti said.

We welcome their input and will incorporate it into our conversations with the two companies.

Members of the public can submit written comments on this issue to DCNR by email to

[email protected].

For more information about possible gas development on the Loyalsock State Forest, read the

Loyalsock State Forest and the Clarence Moore Lands fact sheet.

NewsClip:DCNR Acting Secretary Launches Loyalsock Outreach

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Senate/House Agenda/Session Schedule

Here are the Senate and House Calendars and Committee meetings showing bills of interest as well as a

list of new environmental bills introduced--

Session Schedule

Here is the latest voting session schedule for the Senate and House--

House

September 23, 24, 25, 30

October 1, 2, 15, 16, 17 (Non-Voting), 21, 22, 23

November 12, 13, 18, 19, 20

December 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18 (Non-Voting)

SenateSeptember 23, 24, 25, 30

October 1, 2, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23

November 12, 13, 18, 19, 20

December 3, 4, 9, 10, 11

Bill Calendars

House (September 23): House Bill 302 (Moul-R-Adams) transferring funds from the Oil and Gas

Lease Fund to DEP for a competitive grant program to convert small mass transit bus fleets to natural

gas House Bill 303 (Moul-R-Adams) transferring funds from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund to DEP for acompetitive grant program to convert large mass transit fleets to natural gas House Bill 304

(Marshall-R-Beaver) funding conversions of transit buses to natural gas House Bill 306

(Pickett-R-Bradford) redirecting the Alternative Fuels Incentive Fund to create the Keystone Fuel

Incentive Program to fund conversions of vehicles to natural gas House Bill 308 (Saylor-R-York)

redirecting $6 million annually from the Clean Air Fund to finance vehicle conversions to natural gas.

Documents

Pa Environment Digest July 29, 2013